The checklist below is an example of a strategic planning self-assessment you can use in your practice. The purpose of these self-assessments is to give you a concise checklist of best practices in a clinical practice. This checklist follows the Pareto Principle of focusing on the 20% of business practices that get you 80% of the results. Therefore, I don’t claim that it covers everything but it does cover a good percentage of the most important things.
Strategic Planning Checklist
r We do a strategic planning process at least annually.
r This process gathers input from key stakeholders and data about our practice and marketplace.
r We review our mission and vision for the practice.
r We assess the size and growth of the market for our services.
r We compare our own “penetration” to the size of the market.
r We assess trends in managed care and payments and analyze our contracts.
r We evaluate competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, and how we can gain an edge.
r We assess the strengths and weaknesses of our referral network.
r We evaluate the depth and breadth of our overall service offerings. We assess the strengths and weaknesses of our marketing.
r We assess our payers, including our payer mix.
r We evaluate our clinical utilization rates and quality or care outcomes.
r We evaluate our internal controls.
r We evaluate our cost structure and financial ratios.
r We review our technology.
r We take a hard look at the patient’s experience, and how to improve it.
r We assess the capabilities of our clinicians and staff and identify any gaps to fill.
r We review physician and staff compensation.
r We assess our risks, compliance, and malpractice insurance.
r We evaluate our relationship with local hospital(s).
r We analyze our financial strength, including capacity for debt, days receivables, trends in aging of receivables, collection ratios, and profitability by services.
r We assess our facility and location, including whether we are located in the optimal zip code/area to serve our desired patient base.
r We do an overall “Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats” or SWOT analysis about our practice.
r We determine which services and programs to expand, which to defend, and which to exit.
r We identify the top issues we need to address, and then identify key priorities to address these issues, achieve our vision, and be more competitive and profitable.
r We set annual performance/financial goals for our practice and develop a plan to achieve those goals.
r We assign specific accountability to achieve these initiatives, and a communication plan to follow up on them.
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